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Top Ten

Top 10 Reasons to End the Federal Reserve

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has the power to dramatically impact our economy at a drop of the hat. The central bank completely controls and determines the money supply. It is permitted to create as much money as it wants out of thin air with no restrictions. This is the antithetical to the principles that America was founded on. Our Founding Fathers would be outraged that one centralized institution has unchecked and unprecedented power to control the economy and thus our lives.

2. The Federal Reserve Has Significantly Devalued Our Currency

The laws of supply and demand apply to money. The more dollars we have in the circulation, the less the currency is worth. Our money supply has rapidly increased over the past century due to the Federal Reserve printing massive amounts of money like there is no tomorrow. This is what will almost inevitably happen when a quasi-governmental entity can simply print more money to its heart’s content. Since the Federal Reserve came into existence in 1913, the dollar has lost over 95 percent of its value. Today’s dollar is worth less than a nickel compared to the pre-1913 dollar.

3. The Federal Reserve Hurts the Poor and Middle Class the Most

Our hard-earned money is essentially stolen through a hidden inflation tax. Inflation is the increase in the supply of money and credit. It is often wrongly defined as the general rise in the price of goods and services. But higher prices are actually a direct consequence of inflation since increasing the supply of money decreases the purchasing power of the dollar. Inflation hurts the poor most since they have less disposable income. Consumers with low disposable incomes will be negatively impacted by higher prices for food and clothing.

4. The Federal Reserve is Run By Unelected and Unaccountable Bureaucrats

The Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve are not directly elected by the American people. This means that those who run the Federal Reserve are unaccountable to the people. The seven members of the Board ultimately decide the price or purchasing power of our money. That kind of central planning would never exist in a true free market economy.

5. The Federal Reserve Has Made Our Economy Less Stable

The Federal Reserve has brought us endless boom-and-bust cycles. The U.S. economy was much more stable before the Federal Reserve came into existence. It bears significant responsibility for every financial crisis over the past century including the Great Depression, the stagflation of the 1970s and recent economic meltdown. The Austrian Business Cycle Theory explains why we see such wide fluctuations in the economy. The theory states that a false boom occurs when the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates below the market rate which increases the supply of money. Artificially low credit cost sends out misleading economic signals to producers. They are inclined to respond by greatly expanding their production around the same time. In retrospect, these investment decisions called malinvestments are seen as a bad allocation of resources. Malinvestments will lead to wasted capital and economic losses. The expansion of credit cannot continue permanently which means that inevitable bust will follow a false boom created by the Federal Reserve.

6. The Federal Reserve is Far Too Secretive

The central bank severely lacks transparency. Throughout its 100-year history, it has always operated under a veil of secrecy. The Federal Reserve has never been fully audited by any outside source. Our elected representatives in Congress have very little oversight over the central bank. It has continually resisted any kind of congressional oversight claiming that it would endanger its “independence.” A comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve would not harm its so-called independence. It would only expose how the Federal Reserve has been manipulating our currency behind closed doors. And Ben Bernanke surely doesn’t want that to happen.

7. The Federal Reserve Benefits Special Interests

The policies of the Federal Reserve hurt the average American. It benefits the privileged few at the expense of the rest of us. The Federal Reserve erodes most Americans’ standard of living while enriching well-connected elites. The central bank serves big spending politicians, big bankers and their friends. Special interests receive access to money and credit before the harmful inflationary effects impact the entire economy. This is why high power lobbyists protect and defend the existence of the Federal Reserve.

8. The Federal Reserve is Unconstitutional

The Constitution makes no mention of a central bank. While there have been historical debates on the constitutionality of a central bank, I see no justification for the argument that the Federal Reserve is constitutional. The federal government only has about thirty enumerated powers delegated to it in the Constitution. The power to create a central bank is not explicitly granted to the federal government in our founding document. Due to my strict interpretation of the Constitution, I find the Federal Reserve to clearly violate the Constitution.

9. The Federal Reserve Routinely Bails Out Big Banks

The Federal Reserve acts as the lender of last resort. The Federal Reserve was ordered through a Freedom of Information Act request to release 28,000 pages of documents in March 2011. The documents exposed that one of the largest recipients of the Federal Reserve’s money was foreign banks during the 2008 economic meltdown. The top foreign banks that received money were the Brussells and Paris based Dexia SA, the Dublin based Depfa Bank Plc, the Bank of China and Arab Banking Corp., according to Campaign for Liberty.

In July 2011, due to a provision under the misguided Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a one-time, watered-down audit of the Federal Reserve. The GAO investigators were not allowed to view most of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions including discount window lending, open-market operations and details on its transactions with foreign governments and banks. This first ever audit of the Federal Reserve revealed $16 trillion in secret bailouts to corporations and banks around the world in less than three years. These bailouts happened without a single vote taking place in any chamber of Congress.

10. The Federal Reserve Encourages Deficit Spending

The Federal Reserve is largely responsible for the out-of-control spending by Congress. The federal government can only obtain money through taxation, printing or borrowing money. Printing money has become the federal government’s preferred method. This is also the most destructive method since the federal government is able to simply print more money as needed to finance its drunken spending spree. It has become a never-ending cycle of spending and printing more money. Voters can put pressure on their representatives to halt politically unpopular tax hikes and lenders could stop loaning money to the U.S. government. But it’s fast and easy for the Federal Reserve to print more money at a whim.

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Oh, and one more thing....I hate the fact that this comment box doesn't allow [RETURN] or [SHIFT+RETURN] to start new lines in comments....I have not a clue as to how to make line breaks here, so that any comments I do make, unfortunately, turns into one Big Almost-unreadable TEXT BLOB....and makes ME look like a rambling Idiot...My kingdom for some line breaks, I suppose.....oh well, LOL!

Kapt.Blasto, which part of Unconstitutional did you not understand? as for any foreign entity stepping in, that also would be Unconstitutional in a sovereign government and measure are already in place to keep it from happening. All we need is a congress and a president with guts to enforce the Constitution.

Some one said here...We need a President and Congress with GUTS to ENFORCE THE CONSTITUTION.....Ok...you want them to lock up all the ENTITLEMENT CHEATERS? Ok....Biggest ENTITLEMENT they have to pay out for is INTEREST ON THE NATIONAL DEBT...and guess who MOSTLY HOLDS THAT?

Did someone say....the AMERICAN PEOPLE?

And you want them to ENFORCE IT....? Ok, buddy...you asked for it! :-|

I'm considering a more important, fundamental reason why the "banishment" of the Federal Reserve doesn't really matter in the least. The properties ascribed to it, from secretiveness, special interests and power to control the economy strike me as almost certainly inevitable consequences in the world of man. The Federal Reserve is just a name given to this particular manifestation of it. whatever replaces it would grow the same tentacles again; there is an equivalent institution in every nation or place with multiple people on the planet; and there always will be.

Responding to some of your reasons.
The Federal Reserve Has Significantly Devalued Our Currency
True, but so what. This is a big problem if you kept cash under a mattress. 95% in value over a long period of time is not cause for concern, 95% in one year could cause chaos. In any event, I do not keep large amounts of cash on hand. I put it into assets that earn a return over the rate of inflation.

The Federal Reserve Hurts the Poor and Middle Class the Most
Simply not true. Inflation does not hurt the poor most. Inflation affects people who hold onto cash, and the poor tend to spend money that they earn in short order. The price of labor (wages) tend to rise with everything else so inflation doesn’t erode the earning power of wages. An unexpected increase for inflation for a great many poor or middle class people would probably be beneficial. Take the example of a person with a fixed rate mortgage or student loans. If they owe $100,000, that amount stays the same if inflation increases from 2% to 10%. I do not believe that inflation should be used to achieve these distributional ends, but these are the facts.

Inflation as I said does have distributional effects and it does hurt some.

1. Receive a fixed interest rate over a long period of time and there is an unexpected increase in inflation.
2. Make illusory nominal gains through interest or capital gains. If inflation is at 10% and you receive 12% interest you’re outpacing inflation, except that you pay taxes on the 12% gain not the real gain.
3. Companies that are overtaxed because depreciation expense does not cover the replacement value of a capital good as it rises in price
Some countries with high rates of inflation have indexed their tax systems to inflation, so this need not be an ill effect of inflation.

The Federal Reserve is Run By Unelected and Unaccountable Bureaucrats
If we have a central bank, it should be by unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. There is a high correlation between the independence of central banks and a low, stable level of inflation over time. (http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2005/11/central_bank_in...) It’s the banks that are controlled by the treasury or ministry of finance that should have you more worried. If you like inflation, just wait until Congress controls the money supply.

The Federal Reserve Has Made Our Economy Less Stable
This latest boom-and-bust looks an awful lot like an Austrian Business Cycle. Interest rates were low and speculators took on huge amounts of debt. It is harder to say that the interest rate was too low since we have no idea what the market rate of interest would have been. Although it certainly seems interest rates were too low in the mid 2000s. There may be something to the ABCT, but Austrian methodology is problematic though. They don’t do econometrics to estimate which factors are actually significant.

I don’t think every business cycle or economic bubble post-1913 has been caused by the Fed. The temptation once you have a reasonable sounding business cycle theory is to see it anywhere and everywhere. The Internet boom and bust, which was small by comparison but still significant was probably not an Austrian business cycle. It was not fueled by cheap credit since most of the investment wasn't leveraged heavily. It was fueled by equity investors that made systematic errors in their investments.

The Federal Reserve Encourages Deficit Spending
This starts with a truth about seigniorage or the profit that a government (or central bank) makes from printing money. This certainly has been significant in some places and times like in Zimbabwe, Argentina and Brazil during the 1980s. Seigniorage the US government makes from printing money is a couple percent of the federal budget.

William Cashwell Kapt. Blasto, Have you ever been to Turkey, because you seem to know you're way around Instantbull. I think we should do away with the Federal Reserve bank. It was established by Woodrow Wilson. If you will watch the Stock Market when the Director of the Federal Reserve comes before Congress and talks about the Prime Interest Rate the people that run Wall Street are paying close attention to what the Director has to say. If the Prime Rate goes up the stocks drop, and the Prime Rate drops the stocks go up, if the Prime Rate stays the same the stock do nothing. So where did you shovel up you're Instantbull from? I'm not on you're level of intelligence, but I'm not stupid either. And I don't think that those that responded to you're commit are not stupid.

BTW, your boss, Dick Armey, is a slime bag. Those who support Ron Paul for the sound and honest principals that he has stood by for decades, will never support Gingrich, Romney or Santorum...or whomever Mr. Armey is pandering for.

Oh, so, you're saying my Boss is Dick Armey... Well, last time I checked, Ken, I didn't see hide nor hair of him anywhere NEAR my workplace, or ANY of my workplaces in the last 34 weeks and 1 day since you left this comment. 1) because I don't think anywhere I work or worked at, HAS a "Dick Armey" on thier roster....and 2) I don't work in DC... and 3) last time I checked....the last time Dick Armey Worked for the Government, he wasn't getting paid by the Rockefellers or the Rothschilds as a paid TEMP on assignment in Washington.....he was getting paid DIRECTLY BY THE GOV'T, through the TREASURY, which I supposedly FUND with my HARD EARNED MONEY...that I fear CONGRESS has redirected to a BONDHOLDER that hasn't got the sense in their head that the more they BUY BONDS, the more they're TAXING THEMSELVES (and everyone around them) TO Stupidity, and BEYOND......just to get paid TAX-FREE. All because they want that "Guaranteed SAFETY, from....UNCERTAINTY..." and I have to pay for their "peace of mind," Kenny...........so, Kenny...do me a favor....STFU!

Great article Julie. Hopefully, anyone reading the comments can see the erratic and uniformed nature of the posts that are attempting to refute the facts in your article. Pretty pathetic how some Americans are so indoctrinated into the corrupt system that they can't see past their own ill-informed egos.

You forgot the most important item, which is both the Federal Reserve and it's collection agency are not part of the Government, but are in fact private corporation, with their corporate charters in Hatai, and not in the US. This is treason, for it has given a foreign entity power of US affairs, which is prohibited in the Constitution.

Well, you gave your reasons to end the Federal Reserve, so, allow me to put up a few reasons WHY YOU SHOULDN'T END the FEDERAL RESERVE...

Now, these reasons are not in any particular order, and perhaps, they could stand as equally important. Overall, the reasons I'm giving might make you want to think of things from a different angle.

1) Why would you want to go after an institution, that some could figure is being SET
UP AS A SCAPEGOAT, to SHIELD THE GOVERNMENT THAT PUT IT IN, and the
VOTERS that keep VOTING for the PEOPLE THAT CONTINUE IT?

Yes, that's right, Julie. Let's say you could press a button, and POOF! The FEDERAL RESERVE and the IRS is HISTORY!

Big Party, Right?

Well, maybe it's better you don't call the caterers yet.

Because standing in the wings is the WORLD BANK/B-I-S, ready to pick up right where the FED leaves off.

And if you're worried about the NEW WORLD ORDER, well, you're playing right into their hands, Julie, because if the FED FOLDS UP, the DOMESTIC BANKS that were operating underneath the FED MEMBERSHIP, goes right to the WORLD BANK, or the "Bank of International Settlements" to get that much needed lending captial, to continue LENDING to you, apart from their own Customer's savings acounts that they use to lend from...

and it turns what was a DOMESTICALLY CONTROLLED system, DEFINITELY into an INTERNATIONALLY controlled SYSTEM...(that means CHINA gets to have some kind of say in what YOUR LOCAL BANK gets lent out to YOU)

Now, maybe you're cool with that...Maybe you figure more "Globalization" of Markets is what's needed for that vendor HERE, and that vendor OVER THERE to have an easier time, exchanging goods and services...

finally loses MORE control over the INTERSTATE commerce, when your local Bank has to go INTERNATIONAL to compete...and pretty soon, that bank down the street, might be from INDIA or CHINA (you'll be lucky if it's from BRITIAN) being governed by FOREIGN RULES, and customer service calls? Well, hope you boned up on learning foreign languagues...because just like you complaining about "Foreign Competition"...SO ARE THEY...and they'll make sure their call centers are staffed with THEIR PEOPLE...who speak THEIR LANGUAGES...

Oh, and did I forget to mention this?

(2) You might not HAVE an AMERICAN DOLLAR to play around with anymore.

One of the BEST THINGS that happened with the FED RESERVE, is the fact that OUR BANKS HERE have a UNIFORM CURRENCY...(in other words, they don't have to issue their OWN currency sets to circulate around, risking one local bank's currencies and another region's bank's currencies, to have INEQUAL values...and they BOTH SAY "DOLLAR..." WHY?

Well...one of the reasons, is the funny way the Framers WROTE ARTICLE 1 SEC 8 Clause 5 of the US CONSTITUTION. Even though it says that CONGRESS SHALL HAVE POWER TO COIN MONEY, where it says:

"to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and to establish the various weights and measures;" ...

Nowhere does it say that CONGRESS is FORBIDDEN, expressly or otherwise, to COIN "FOREIGN" money.

Just because you use the word "foreign" and think of a "foreign country," "foreign" can ALSO mean "foreign object" like a "FOREIGN OBJECT in your eye."

Like, the way Wrestlers on TV, want to bring in an AMERICAN MADE FOLDING CHAIR into the AMERICAN MADE RING, in the AMERICAN ARENA to bash the other guy, when the REF ain't looking (and the fans eat it all up, knowing the REF is blinder than Stevie Wonder, while the Gorgeous George beats on Killer Kowalski like a government mule, with it!)....the announcers call it, what? "Foreign object in the ring!"

The way CONGRESS defines "foreign" also includes financial instruments that are DOMESTICALLY MADE, like YOU WRITING A CHECK, or using that PIECE OF PLASTIC (that the MINT didn't, *necessarily*, make for the bank to distribute to you) to purchase that new dress, or food at the store!

(unless of course, Congress wanted to take over the CARD-making industry, to chisel out the guys that are making that money from the banks, and they figure they go work for the GOVERNMENT and do the same thing they were doing before...I'll bet you complain about GOVERNMENT getting too large! Well, heh-heh....sorry kiddo!)

AND...should I also mention...it goes right down to the PAPER DOLLARS, and the COINS that you use today! CONGRESS ALSO regards them as "FOREIGN!"

And here you're scratching your head, saying "WHAT?"

Yeah...Let me explain here, too!

You see, the ONLY WAY that CONGRESS can declare ANY financial instrument "DOMESTIC," where it can be measured with the CONSTITUTIONAL MEASURE "DOLLAR" is through the processess set up in the 1793 COINAGE ACT.

That's where you, finding or possessing a certain amount of ORE, that has a certain amount of GOLD or SILVER in it...takes that ORE to the MINT, and you let the MINT process it into ALLOYED COINS for you to then TAKE FROM THE MINT, and YOU YOURSELF, spend those ALLOYED COINS into circulation.

And notice that I put some terms in CAPS up above, to have you see certain things...

I know that a lot of folks reading these comment pages here, want a return to the COINAGE ACT...where a DOLLAR was REALLY A DOLLAR! And there was GOLD or SILVER in it! INTRINSIC VALUE in your pocket! IT CAN'T BE DEBAUCHED! And they like the idea of THE PEOPLE being the distributors of that MONEY!

Well....beyond how many grains of silver or gold had to be in each COIN, (which was, or maybe STILL IS, 273.25 grains of SILVER, or ~18.22 grains of GOLD,) and beyond the fact that People came with their gold to process it into coins to spend...

(pay attention here, Julie, because THIS IS IMPORTANT.)

What it MORE IMPORTANTLY SET UP is that CONGRESS NEEDED AN "OTHER" to interact with, AND THAT "OTHER" to DISTRIBUTE, whatever product, the interaction between them creates, so that any THIRD PARTY, operating within the JURISDICTION that was not involved in the process, can recieve them as payment for GOODS and SERVICES, and CONTINUE the CIRCULATION of that product...

All that the Framers did in US CONST ART.1 Sec.8 Clause 5, was set things up so that the OTHER could come and interact with CONGRESS, and be the DISTRIBUTOR of any PRODUCT.

No matter WHAT YOU THINK it says, (or think it ought to mean)...CONGRESS CANNOT be COINER of COIN and DISTRIBUTOR of that COIN, SIMULTANEOUSLY...(there's a Check-and-Balance violation against the PEOPLE, there.)

The same holds true with the FEDERAL RESERVE, just like it was with the processes in the COINAGE ACT. FEDERAL RESERVE has to STAND APART from CONGRESS...

Otherwise, ANY ISSUE of CURRENCY Congress could just "create and spend" into circulation...would run the risk of being viewed as "running the printing press," just like you're accusing the FED of DOING...

Plus they're also requests from BANKS to have "MORE CASH" on hand, to prevent RUNS on the BANKS....

("December 21, 2012" or what many think the Mayans said was the "END OF THE WORLD" is probably a GOOD WORRY customers have, for, needing "cash in a mattress, somehow"
...and if they can't pull out the money, because it AIN'T THERE...well, guess what? Customers have BANK PANICS, that the FED is designed, and authorized to PREVENT. It isn't *necessarily* authorized to prevent INFLATION, per se...but BANK PANICS...DEFININTELY....)

(plus, if you'll remember past reports regarding 90% of the physical PAPER currency, having ILLICIT DRUG RESIDUE upon them? I'm sure you'll thank the FED, for trying to rotate out THAT MONEY and destroy it, so little 9-year old Suzy doesn't get HIGH holding that dollar in her grubby little hands, to buy that candy, RIGHT?!)

And CONGRESS wants to DEMONIZE THE FED?

uhm.....at last check, where exactly is the people's sentinment toward CONGRESS?

Now...with all this talk about ENDING THE FED, or maybe even AUDITING the FED?

You want the possibility of a Nancy Pelosi, or a Newt Gingrich, or maybe a Rick Santorum, having access to your home mortgage note? Or maybe inspecting the fluctuations of your bank accounts? Or maybe that Bureaucrat, that they appointed?

The People who chose credit cards with APR's, Tim, are doing so without really realizing they are conducting an INTERSTATE business arrangement with who they think is their LOCAL BANK.

A Local Bank finding themselves within States, that have on their Books, certain USURY LAWS that limit excessive Interest...will find themselves signing up for their CREDIT CARDS, from their local bank's OUT-OF-STATE subsidiary...

(maybe it's the SAME NAME, and maybe it's the SAME BANK, but it might be a CORPORATE BRANCH of some kind...)

And that is the State where the Laws are either NON-EXISTENT, or so lax or vague that the law would exceed the point of UN-enforceability...

And that is precisely the State where the SIGNOR of the CREDIT CARD CONTRACT...gets their signature RECOGNIZED...turning what SHOULD BE a LOCAL INTERACTION, into an INTERSTATE interaction...

and the poor Schmuck that just signed the loan, can complain all he wants to his STATE assembly...

And the STATE GOV will have to say to the Schmuck,

"Hey SCHMUCK! Did you ever bother to READ THE FINE PRINT?! We CAN'T HELP YOU....even if we WANTED TO! You signed an INTERSTATE AGREEMENT, where your SIGNATURE got approved OVER IN THE OTHER STATE...you're bound by THEIR LAWS NOW....not OURS, you SCHMUCK!! (and we'll probably have to send you the BILL for the UNPAID TAXES now....so you shouldn't have complained to us, anyway!)"

And there you go!

So, maybe next time before you complain about where I got MY FACTS FROM, Timmy, maybe you need to PAY ATTENTION...you SCHMUCK!

Dear Representative, FreedomWorks is a leading grassroots organization fighting for lower taxes, less government and more freedom. I am writing today to urge you to cosponsor H.R. 459 Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011. Introduced by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), the bill would eliminate the current audit restrictions placed on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and require a full and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve.

With longtime Federal Reserve critic Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) willing to lead the fight in the Senate, this is our best opportunity to pass a real Audit of the Fed. On Wednesday, the father and son duo introduced companion legislation, H.R. 459 and S.202, in both congressional chambers to require a full and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve.

The movement to audit the Fed won a huge victory last night. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) who has been a leading critic of the Federal Reserve for decades will lead the Monetary Policy Subcommittee. In other words, the author of the book “End the Fed” will be overseeing the central bank. Look out Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.

Today, Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a big speech on the Federal Reserve’s next move in Boston. During his speech, Bernanke announced yet another round of “quantitative easing”. In plain English, this means that the Fed will fire up their printing presses to create more money. This likely won’t end well.

On Friday, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech claiming that the economy is finally headed on the right track. He stated at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual economic symposium that "despite this recent slowing, however, it is reasonable to expect some pickup in growth in 2011 and in subsequent years."

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whose purpose is to regulate the stock market and prevent corporate abuses has become no stranger to controversy. Recently, a Politico article revealed that top officials at the SEC spent a significant part of their day watching pornography on the taxpayer’s dime. Yet, the SEC pornography scandal resulted in zero firings.

As lawmakers continue to question all involved in the 2008 deal that brought securities firm Merrill Lynch under the command of Bank of America Corp., questions arise as to the legality of the Federal Reserve's role in the negotiations.